If you have a background in surveying, either through the NSCC Survey Technician Certificate or equivalent work experience, this program gives you the next level of skills you need to increase your job advancement opportunities. You learn in a team environment with the newest technologies to prepare you for work as a Geomatics Engineering Technologist.

Surveying is the science of measuring the physical world around us to determine the shape and position of objects or features. Surveying skills are applied to a wide variety of activities, from exploration for natural resources such as oil and natural gas to determining the boundaries between parcels of land to controlling the layout of buildings and highways. This program delivers the practical measurement skills and techniques, as well as the theory behind them.

InfoStudents Highlights reflect comments provided in the annual Program Highlights Survey. Students participate in this survey to share their experiences and information that they think will help future students learn more about the program. Highlights reflect individual experiences (which can vary by student).

Student Highlights

Why Take It…"Specialized skills for many rewarding career opportunities."

Cool Activity…"Use both digital and analogue instruments for measuring and recording distances, angles and heights as well as GPS."

Project Work…"Apply surveying skills to a wide variety of activities – resource exploration, determining land boundaries, and supporting major construction."

NSCC's Centre of Geographic Sciences (COGS) provides a focused approach to geomatics training. COGS has earned a strong reputation among employers and geomatics professionals for the quality of the programs, hands-on training and practical learning provided to students.

You learn in the field. More than 1/3 of your program time is spent working on field projects.

Earn recognized credentials &ndash This program is accredited with the Canadian Technology Accreditation Board (CTAB), a standing committee of The Canadian Council of Technicians and Technologists (CCTT). CTAB accreditation means that this program has been evaluated against standards designed by industry leaders across Canada and is recognized internationally. Graduates may be eligible for membership with TechNova, the certifying organization for Engineering and Applied Science Technicians and Technologists in Nova Scotia.

You learn at a campus location that is dedicated to geomatics training and work alongside other students studying related disciplines.

Small class sizes provide you with lots of opportunities for one-on-one interaction and support.

You use the most up-to-date equipment and software and get the hands-on training that makes grads the preferred choice of employers.

Some graduates go on to complete additional qualifications through the Marine Geomatics Program, or advanced civil engineering, and CAD-based occupational training.

Safety Training – This program places a high importance on providing you with skills and knowledge to work safely in industry. You will participate in a number of introductory safety awareness courses to prepare for employment.

The objectives of this course are to introduce the learner to observations and computations on a solid body, to give the learner an understanding of the size and shape of the earth, the history of geodetic surveying, the concept of gravity and its use in surveying and to continue the learner's studies of map projections. Emphasis is placed on computations of coordinates, computations on the projection surface and coordinate conversions and recognition of common problems in coordinate computations.

This course is presented to Geomatics Engineering learners during term one. The course will provide learners with more advanced concepts and commands within the Surveying and Engineering CADD environment. Learners will draft and calculate projects by using a combination of Land Development Desktop and IntelliCAD software suites.

In this course, the student will use the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) as a tool for obtaining spatial data and coordinate information. The student will review code differential GNSS and its applications, especially as it relates to GIS and mapping data collection. The student will explore the use of carrier phase GNSS observables to collect data for geodetic control, topographic surveys, etc. Students will use proprietary software to process and analyze code and carrier phase GNSS data sets as well as export data in various formats for use by other software packages.

The objective of this course is to prepare students to effectively communicate within a working environment. Emphasis will be placed on preparing project documentation and gathering field project data in support of Advanced Communications II. Students are required to generate the necessary fieldwork data for technical report on a topic of their choosing. This course provides them with time and appropriate support mechanisms for completing this task.

The learner will put into practice theory and applications discovered in the classroom. Fieldwork also focuses on the important aspect of teamwork and how teams can work effectively together to achieve a common goal.

This course is designed to introduce the learners to the main components of Geographic Information Systems, such as data input, data management, data analysis and output. Through the completion of practical assignments, the learners will gain an understanding of how GIS works and why it is such a powerful tool. The ArcView GIS v. 3.3 and some of its extension modules will be used in this course.

This course will introduce the learner to the aspects and applications of construction surveying. Topics include plan reading, earthworks, spiral curves and super-elevation. In addition, an industry-standard surveying software package will be utilized throughout this course.

This course is designed to give the learner an understanding of the concepts of Least Squares adjustments by studying the theory using a matrix algebra approach, and performing adjustments and analysis using interactive software. During the course, learners will use data gathered from the field during the projects in fieldwork as well as standard data sets.

This course is designed to introduce the learner to fundamental business concepts to better prepare them for terminology and concepts they will encounter as employees or employers, and to give the learner an overview of several areas which are involved in practising as a Professional Surveyor. The course will also expose the learner to the planning process both in the legal sense and in the subdivision design sense.

This course is presented to Geomatics Engineering students during the second semester. The course will provide students with more advanced concepts and commands within the Surveying and Engineering CAD environment. Students will draft and calculate projects using the Land Development Desktop software.

This course is designed to prepare students to effectively communicate within a working environment. Emphasis will also be given analysing information, preparing high quality output and to oral communications. Students are required to prepare a technical report on a field experiment performed in Advanced Communications I during the fall semester. Time and appropriate support mechanisms will be provided for completing this task.

The learner will put into practice theory and applications discovered in the classroom. Fieldwork also focuses on the important aspect of teamwork and how teams can work effectively together to achieve a common goal.

This course is composed of multiple components one of which focuses on applications of data collection and another component that focuses on coordinate geometry calculations using CAD software. On the data collection side, learners will work with feature codes on a data collector for upload and download of various practical coordinated field survey projects. Learners will also participate in data collection and analysis of as-built surveys. The final component departs from what would be referred to as traditional surveying and focuses on applications of measurement theory in areas not covered by other courses. These areas may include construction and industrial applications using RTK GPS and static GPS as well as other applications. The module will be divided into distinct topic areas that are chosen on a year-by-year basis to allow flexibility with learner requirements and to maximize benefits gained from current projects in these various areas.

This course will introduce the learner to the three coordinate systems that form the Astronomic Triangle as well as the time systems associated with the sun and the stars. With this knowledge the learner may ascertain the direction from their position to the sun or a star and subsequently that of a traverse line.

This course provides learners with the opportunity to put into practice theory and applications discovered in the classroom. Fieldwork also focuses on the important aspect of teamwork and how teams can work effectively together to achieve a common goal.

This course offers the students the introduction to WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System), which is training required in the workplace by those individuals who are exposed or have the potential to be exposed to controlled products. This is a generic, introductory course that provides basic knowledge in WHMIS for the workplace and is considered to be the basis from which more specific training can be given.

This course offers students an introduction to the Occupational Health & Safety (OH&S) Act of Nova Scotia, which is required by any person employed in a Nova Scotia workplace. This is a generic, introductory course that provides basic knowledge of the Act for students and is considered to be the basis from which more specific training can be given.